explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2798: Room Temperature

2023-07-06T06:40:31Z

172.70.126.151: Cooling and heating semiconductor

Isn't there actually quite a lot of funding available for uncontrolled hot fusion? https://www.icanw.org/squandered_2021_global_nuclear_weapons_spending_report ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.32|162.158.38.32]] 23:29, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

Note that '''controlled''' hot fusion (e. g. a functioning Tokamak) would also be really valuable. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:17, 6 July 2023 (UTC)

Someone explain why superconductors are a big deal

Arguably the temperature has to change for a semiconductor to work. For it to work at room temperature alone would be pure magic.

Talk:2636: What If? 2 Countdown

2022-06-23T12:49:34Z

172.70.126.151:

I've started the table to explain all the calendar entries. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:19, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Is the dog minutes calculation backwards? 777,777 dog minutes should be 777,777 x 7 human minutes, which is over 10 years. Randall seems to be dividing instead of multiplying. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:36, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
: No - 1 human year = 7 dog years; 1 dog year = 1/7 human year; 1 dog minute = 1/7 human minute; 777,777 dog minutes = 111,111 human minutes = 77 days, 3 hours, 51 minutes. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.173|172.70.90.173]] 11:32, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

First entry is probably mistake by Randall, e^pi would give value of 84.5 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.38|162.158.203.38]] 11:57, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
: That would be too high, though. 82.xxx days (from midnight at the start of launch day) would fall within the 83rd day before it (Jun 22). 84.5 would fall within the 85th (Jun 20). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.58|172.70.91.58]] 12:15, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Not sure if this is even worth mentioning, but he forgot the box around the date number in the top corner for August 29th. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.151|172.70.126.151]] 12:49, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

973: MTV Generation

2022-05-04T18:42:08Z

172.70.126.151: Undo revision 240854 by Ex Kay Cee Dee (talk)

{{comic
| number = 973
| date = November 4, 2011
| title = MTV Generation
| image = mtv_generation.png
| titletext = If you identified with the kids from The Breakfast Club when it came out, you're now much closer to the age of Principal Vernon.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|MTV}} stands for "Music Television", which is the name of a US-based cable channel, founded in 1981, specifically focusing on popular music and the music industry in general. The programming largely (though not exclusively) consisted of {{w|music video}}s. The focus of the channel has since shifted to {{w|reality shows}}. In the channel's heyday in the 1980's and early 1990's, it was popular with teenagers and young adults. As is often the case with youth culture, it was roundly condemned by some adults as being destructive and pointless. One of the specific criticisms was that the format of short videos, with quick-edit, highly kinetic visual styles and no underlying narrative was destroying the attention span of the youth.

Despite MTV no longer being especially popular (and no longer focusing on music videos), people still use the term '''MTV Generation''' to refer to the young cohort, and insist that they have poor attention spans, resulting from their media exposure. [[Megan]] explains that the term really originated about 25 years ago, to describe {{w|Generation X}}, the generation born from 1965 to 1980. The actual MTV generation has long since grown up, and most young people today either don't watch MTV, or have no idea that it was originally a music channel. Teenagers today are the children of "the MTV generation" (and even their grandchildren, in some cases).

{{w|The Breakfast Club}} is an iconic movie from 1985 in which 5 teenagers spend a Saturday detention together at school. Principal Vernon was the overseer of the detention, and a symbol of authority and oppression of youth - the actor playing principal Vernon was around 45 years old at the time of filming. The irony is that many adults who grew up watching the movie still identify with the teenagers, but now have little in common with them.

There are a couple of themes in this strip that [[Randall]] has covered before. One is mocking adults for the assumptions they make about young people, youth culture and new technology. Adults have a tendency to whitewash the past, and insist that modern young people are being corrupted by new trends. And when that generation of youth grows up, they tend to make the same assumptions about the next generation. [[1601: Isolation]], [[1227: The Pace of Modern Life]], [[1414: Writing Skills]], [[1348: Before the Internet]]

Another theme is making people feel old by pointing out how long ago their common memories are, as in [[647: Scary]], [[891: Movie Ages]], [[1393: Timeghost]], [[1477: Star Wars]], and [[2165: Millennials]].

==Transcript==

:[Teenager playing with phone walks in background. White Hat and Megan are in the foreground.]
:White Hat: See, that's the problem with the MTV generation— No attention span.
:Teenager's phone: ''Bleep bloop''

:[White Hat and Megan in frameless panel without teenager from previous panel.]
:Megan: You know, that phrase referred to the 12-19 demographic that formed the core MTV audience in the mid-1980s.

:[Zoom in on Megan with White Hat off-panel to the left.]
:White Hat (off-panel): Uh huh? So?
:Megan: That generation's now in their 40s.

:[Zoom back out to White Hat and Megan, with White Hat scratching his head.]
:White Hat: That can't be right.
:Megan: Face it: Your problem with the MTV generation is their ''kids''.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics to make one feel old]]

1100: Vows

2022-03-27T13:35:14Z

172.70.126.151:

{{comic
| number = 1100
| date = August 27, 2012
| title = Vows
| image = vows.png
| titletext = So, um. Do you want to get a drink after the game?
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a joke parodying wedding ceremonies and {{w|American Football}} plays intended to misdirect or fool the opponents about what is really happening.

A standard misdirection play involves the offense misdirecting the defense into thinking that the play being executed is actually a different play: for example, a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_positions passing play] could actually be a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_positions running play], or that a ball being [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_positions run left] is actually being [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_positions run right], or that a {{w|field goal}} or {{w|Punt_(gridiron_football)|punt}} end up being attempted to get a {{w|Down_(gridiron_football)|down}}.

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is about to get married to Amy, a girl looking like [[Megan]], but the bride interrupts the ritual by saying that she doesn't want to get married. The bride then reveals herself to be a Cueball-like man and after questioning reveals that the relationship and the wedding was an elaborate con to get the advantage on the football field. "Amy" turns out to be a player for the opposing team and he had a football on his person. He then proceeds to run the ball in for a touchdown. This clearly constitutes the ''greatest high school football misdirection play of all time''.

[[Randall]] takes the deception in a misdirection play to the next, virtually impossible level; it is unlikely that a relationship could develop to the point of marriage within the time-frame of a football game, with "the groom" not noticing that Amy was in fact a football player, or that he was standing on the football field.

The title text indicates that, in spite of the deception, "the groom" still has feelings and is not ready to give up the relationship (or at least he would like to share a beer with the opposing team like after a friendly game). Alternatively, as it is unclear who is speaking, "the bride" may have also developed feelings for "the groom" and is now awkwardly asking for a date after deceiving "the groom."

===Misdirection Plays===
Occasionally, especially at the high school level, extreme misdirection plays are attempted where teams try to misdirect the opposing team into thinking that a play is not even being run. Good examples of that can be found on YouTube, such as this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkA3nxuMJoM "wrong ball" trick], or that [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UIdI8khMkw "five more yards" trick]. Despite conforming to the rules of the game, these are considered to be dirty tricks and usually only work in little league football.

==Transcript==
:[A bride in full wedding dress, that looks like Megan, and Cueball with a bow-tie as the groom stand next to each other. Each has a hand outstretched toward the other.]
:Officiator (off panel): Do you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband?
:Bride: ...No.

:[Cueball steps back in surprise. The bride removes a wig to reveal that she is in fact a Cueball-like man.]
:Groom: ''What? Amy!?''
:Man: I'm not Amy. None of this was real. You're back in senior year. It's the big game.

:[Cueball puts his hands to his head in confusion. The man holds up an American football, still holding the wig in his other hand.]
:Cueball: What ''is'' this!?
:Man: ''The greatest high school football misdirection play of all time.''

:[Cueball puts his hands to his mouth as the man in the wedding dress begins to run backwards, away from him holding up the ball.]

:[Cueball remains frozen in horror as the man turns and dashes toward the goalpost in the distance.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Wedding]]
[[Category:American football]]